Ledger-index.



No. 757,510. PATENTBD 111111.19, 1904. G. @.VsHBPHERm LEDs-BR INDEX. APPLIGATIN FILED KLB. 8, 1901.

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G.G.SHEPHBRD. LEDGER INDEX. APPLICATION FILED MR. 8, 1901.

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UNITED STATES `Patented April 19, 1904'.

PATENT OEEICE.

LEDGER-lNDEX.

SPECIFICATIUN forming part of Letters Patent No. 757,510, dated April 19, 1904.

I Application filed March 8, 1901. Serial No. 50,276. (No model.)

T0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GILBERT C. SHEPHERD, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of New York, borough of Brooklyn, county of Kings, and State of New York, have invented certain new. and useful Improvements in Ledger-Indexes, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to indexesV ofY the general type shown in my former patent, dated March 12, 1901, No. 669,554, and has foitits object the improvement of construction and arrangement of the same, whereby a general index with ready-reference features is secured.

To the accomplishment of these and suchv other objects as may hereinafter appear my invention consists in the construction, combinations, and various features of arrangement hereinafter described, and further pointed out in the claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof, in which the same reference characters represent like parts throughout the several views, and in which- Y Figure 1 is a perspective elevation of a general index formed as hereinafter described. Fig. 2 is an enlarged front elevation of the superposed leaves forming the general index and the interposed leader-sheet. Fig. 3 is a modification showing how the general initial may be applied to the projecting portion of the leader-sheet instead of as in the other figures. Fig. 4 is a cross-section through the projecting edge of the leader-sheet, showing its reinforced construction; and Fig. 5 is asimilar view of one of the tabs.

The index-sheets 1, as shown in Figs. 1, 2,

and 3, have the usual or desired arrangement sired combination of letters printed upon them the series of names can be extended either up or down into the lines provided with the lesser number of printed letters. For example, if, as in Fig. 2, the letters Bh are printed at the top of the column and continued down as far as desired, there would then be a few lines having only B printed thereon, and then would come the next group, as Bi. If now there are more names beginning with Bh than could be accommodated in the lines so marked, they could be extended down into the lines having only B upon them. Likewise if an excess of names beginning with Bi occurred, they would be run up into the same group of lines marked .with B only. Such a group of beginning letters may occur only once on a page or more frequently, according to the requirements of the particular service, and they may not be needed upon succeeding pages. This arrangement may, as before stated, occur witha great number of the letters, according to the refinement to which it is desired to carry `the system. Y

As shown in the drawings, each sheet 1 of the index is provided with stepped tabs 6, and

they are lettered as often as necessary with the.

initial letters 7 of the alphabet, it being understood, of course, that the blank tabs below a certain letter all refer to that letter, or the tabs may all have the same letter instead of being left blank, as 8, After as many sheets 1 are provided as desired, according to the exigencies of the case, the leader-sheet 9 is interposed, and after another series of index-sheets l another leader-sheet 9 follows, and so on to the end of the book, said leader-sheet being bound in the bookor inserted loosely, as preferred, there being any suitable number of in*- dex-sheets 1, sections of the same, and the leader-sheets 9.' These leader-sheets 9 are provided `with the other sheets, 1., and project beyond the same. The projecting edge of the leader-sheet is provided with a vertical series v of spaces 10, corresponding'to the tabs 6 of initial letter on the adjacent tabs, the said subdivisions being arranged in two or more horifirst subdivision in the upper line of one of theV spaces opposite the tab marked B is e and the last is el and there are none between, then the names beginning with "Be will be found near the upper part of the left-hand page, those beginning with Bel at the lower part of the page, and those between, or the overfiow, either up or down, will be between or near the center of the page. This arrangement of the letters in the horizontal or vertical lines of course agrees with the number of changes that occur on the page corresponding. If there are four changes or three changes on the page, the corresponding number can be placed in the said lines and will indicate by their positions in the lines the part of page where such names can be found.

The sheets l of the index may be divided into upper and lower halves and the lines in the leader-sheet spaces 10 into corresponding halves; but such arrangement is not preferred.

It will be noted that some of the spaces instead of bearing the variations of the initial letters are blank-as, for example, the lower one, 11, belonging to the letter B, those belonging to theletters C and D, and so on. The object of this is to allow a certain'flexibility to the index to accommodate any overfiow or excess not otherwise provided for in the book. T0 accomplish this, a sheet or sheets may be left in the book having stepped tabs corresponding to these blank spaces, these sheets A having a printed row of first or general initial letters 5. Then in case of an overfiow of names they can be placed on those extra sheets and the space 10 correspondingly lettered with the proper subdivisions. To be more specific, any excess of Bs would be placed on the sheets having a stepped tab adjacent the blank space on leader-sheet 9 at 13, and the blank space should be appropriately lettered. The excess of Cs would be similarly placed on the sheets having stepped tabs opposite the blank space on the leader-sheet9 at C, &c.

In an index having loose sheets it may be desirable to insert sheets with the first or general initial letters at any point or between every two sheets, in which case the proper blank spaces would be left on the edge of the leader-sheet, as every other space. This would allow an extension to double the amount of names originally intended. With bound books, however, the former construction is preferable. When there are several of these leadersheets throughout the book, I provide each with a tag 12, (shown in the drawings) each tag having room thereon to place the letters of the general initials to which that sheet refers. For instance, if the first sheet has data on it relating only to the letters A to G the tag is so marked, the tag on the next sheet being marked with its letters, and the same order is carried out on all the leader sheets. These tags are stepped or placed one below Vthe other down the edge of the book, so

that the desired leader-sheet can be selected instantly. These sheets could be stepped, as in case of the index-sheets; but the former construction is preferred.

By referring to the modification shown in Fig. 3 it will be seen that the leader-sheets may be made to project a little farther and may be provided with an additional vertical row of spaces 13, in which the general initial letter is placed instead of placing'them on the tabs 6, as in the other figures. Of course in this case the tabs on the index-sheets 1 would be provided just the same, but left blank. ln this case, as before, the spaces belonging to these initial letters on sheet 9 would be in alinement with as many of the tabs 6 at their sides as was required by the capacity of the book, and the adjacent index-tabs would then lead to all pages having the corresponding letter.

Inasmuc'h as the leader sheets project beyond the edge of the other sheets of the book they may be thickened and strengthened without materially thickening the book itself.

Referring to Fig. 4, it will be seen that a strip of cardboard, hard paper 14, or other desirable materialis laid on the edge of the leader-sheet 9, the added strip being preferably of slightly-greater thickness than the leader-sheet, althoughA this relative thickness may be altered, as desired. Adhesive material may be applied to the surface of the strip and sheet to secure them together; but for the purpose of` forming vthe added strip or thickened end as a component part of the sheet itself I prefer to employ aA sheet 15 of muslin or other comparatively strong yet thin material, which is bent over the outer edge of the filling-strip 14 and extended inwardly upon the leader-sheet and there secured to the latter, the adhesive material being applied to the filling-strip and to the edging-strip, so as to firmly secure the filling-strip, edgingstrip, and sheet together.

Wherever the tabs are placed, they are formed as shown in Fig. 5, in which one end of a strip 16 of leather or other suitable material is interposed between the Vstrip 15 and the thickened edge of the leader-sheet, and the other end of the tab-strip is passed under the edging-strip and over the filling-strip and secured upon the latter and to the edgingstrip by suitable adhesive material. The

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edge of the covering-strip 15 is cut away to allow of the entry of the tab-strip, as indicated in Fig. 5.

Having described my invention, I claim- 1. In an index, sheets having columns for names, groups or sets of letters at the lefthand side of the columns corresponding to the beginning letters of the names to be inserted there, and spaces between the different groups or combinations of letters having a less number of letters than the adjacent letter or groups for the extension thereinto of names belonging to either set.

2. In an index, tabbed sheets having columns for names, different sets of letters for the front side of the column corresponding tothe names to be there inserted, parts of the columns between the diii'erent sets having a less number of printed characters than the preceding and following set to allow the names of either set to be extended into said parts, a leader-sheet having a vertical series of spaces and having in each space an upper and lower line corresponding to the two pages to which each such space refers, each line containing the same subdivision of the letters as appear inthe corresponding column.

3. In an index, tabbed sheets having columns for nameadiierent sets of letters for the front side of the column corresponding to the names to be there inserted, a leader-sheet having a vertical series of spaces and having in each space an upper and lower line corresponding to the two pages to which each such space refers, each line containing the same subdivisions of the letters as appear in the corresponding columns.

4. AIn an index-book, a number of tabbed index-sheets, leader-sheets placed at desired intervals among the index-sheets, said leadersheets projecting beyond the edge of the indexsheets and having a vertical series of spaces corresponding to the tabs and containing subdivisions of the initial letter positioned in the spaces according to their locations in the said columns, and stepped tags attached to said leader-sheets indicating the initial letter or let-` ters covered by the said leader-sheet.

5. In an index,a series of tabbed sheets,hav ing columns 2 for names, sets of printed combinations of letters at one side of the column corresponding to the names to be inserted, a leader-sheet having a projection on which two vertical series of spaces 9 and 13 are produced, each space being adjacent a tab, the spaces 13 eachhaving the general initial letter and the spaces 9 each having the same subdivisions of the letters as are printed in the columns 2, the letters being in two rows corresponding to the two corresponding pages of the tabbed sheets. Y

6. The combination with a plurality of stepped index-sheets, the leader-sheets between the stepped index -sheets are interposed, the leader-sheets projecting beyond the edges of the stepped index sheets, the leader sheets having thickened edges, and indicational tabs extending from said thickened edges, substantially as described.

7. A sheet having an added strip along one of its edges, a projection from the outer edge of said strip overlapping the strip and the edge of the sheet, and a covering-strip overlying the edge of the sheety through which the projection passes, substantially as described.

8. In an index, a series of tabbed sheets having columns 2v for names, sets of printed combinations of letters at the front side of the column corresponding to the names to be inserted,a leader-sheet having a projection on which a vertical series of spaces is produced, each space being adjacent a tab and having the same subdivision of the letters as are printed in the columns 2, said leader-sheet having a projecting tab, the letters being in two rows corresponding to the two pages.

Signed in the city, county, and State of New Yori: this 6th day of March, 1901.

GILBERT C. SHEPHERD.

Witnesses:

JOSEPH L. LEVY, CHAs. G. HnNsLEY. 

